The Religion of Ancient Egypt

First published in 1912, this concise work for non-specialists introduces the key aspects of ancient Egyptian religion.

William Matthew Flinders Petrie (Author)

9781108065788, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 5 September 2013

112 pages, 1 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 0.6 cm, 0.15 kg

A pioneering Egyptologist, Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853–1942) excavated over fifty sites and trained a generation of archaeologists. In this concise 1912 publication, aimed at non-specialists, Petrie discusses the key aspects of ancient Egyptian religion and the philosophies that underpinned it. Beginning with an explanation of the ancient conception of deities, the text explores the various types of god in the Egyptian pantheon and the ancient theory of the afterlife. It also gives due attention to such structures of belief as ritual, priesthood and scripture. The book ends with an examination of the ways in which ancient Egyptian religion spread through the ancient world and how Egyptian ideas were reused and transformed by later religions, including Christianity. Petrie wrote prolifically throughout his long career, and a great many of his other publications - for both specialists and non-specialists - are also reissued in this series.

1. The nature of gods
2. The nature of man
3. The future life
4. Animal worship
5. The groups of gods
6. The human gods
7. The cosmic gods
8. The abstract gods
9. The foreign gods
10. The cosmogony
11. The ritual and priesthood
12. The sacred books
13. Private worship
14. Egyptian ethics
15. The influence of Egypt
Index.

Subject Areas: Egyptian archaeology / Egyptology [HDDG]